Title: A Copper Fumi-E, Depicting the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus, Surrounded by Worshippers, Circa 1650-1750. An Early Example of a Stepping Stone Used by the Shogunate to Make Christian Worshippers Renounce Faith in Japan
Condition: Very Good
A rare Early to Mid Edo Period, 17th to 18th century example of a copper Fumi-E, depicting a likeness of the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus, surrounded by worshippers.
Also known as the “stepping on picture” ceremony, the practice was organized by the religious authorities under the Tokugawa Shogunate, in an attempt to eradicate Christianity from Japan entirely. The first such ceremony was conducted in 1629, in Nagasaki, when its citizens or suspected converts were mandated to trample the fumi-e to prove their renunciation of Christ and Christianity. The test itself was known as e-fumi, while the icons were also known as e-ita.
This practice continued for more than 200 years, with the Tokugawa Shogunate fervently using the practice to root out any trace of Christians, sympathizers, or would be worshippers and those sympathetic to the persecuted. Any individual who refused or hesitated would be arrested under suspicion of being a Christian. If they refused to renounce their faith, they would be tortured, and if persisting, executed. Such executions also took place at Mount Unzen in Nakasaki, where Christians would be boiled alive in the hot springs. It was not until 1805 that the Shogunate finally abolished the execution for being Christian, but fumi-e itself was not fully abolished until 1856, with the opening of ports to foreigners.
Early on, the magistrate’s office had at first made suspected Christians perform e-fumi using copper stepping plates, painted stone, or canvas oil paintings of Christ and the Virgin Mary, but as this process was too resource consuming with more paintings having to be consumed, they quickly switched to the process of creating Fumi-E stepping plates with foreign produced bronze and brass, confiscated from Christians of different denominations, placed in wooden frames. It has been purported that bronze crosses and other devotional objects of similar materials were also confiscated and melted down, though this cannot be fully confirmed due to a shortfall of supporting documentation.
The Fumi-E has been stored in a small wooden box for preservation.
One bronze icon, 17.5 x 10.5 cm, Weight roughly 630 grams
The Fumi-E is in very good shape, with some age-related wear to the icon and rear. There is minor oxidization to the icon itself, likely due to some degree of environmental exposure. Overall, a well-preserved example, the facial expressions still largely legible, though the face of Infant Christ is partially worn down.